Simon DeBartolo's Buy May Kindle
Demand for Commercial Real Estate

An Interactive Journal News Roundup

Updated Feb. 21, 1998 12:01 a.m. ET

R emember the 1980s and soaring commercial real estate values?

In one of the biggest real-estate deals in years, Simon DeBartolo Group Inc. agreed to pay $4.8 billion for Corporate Property Investors, the owner of two dozen premier shopping malls and New York's landmark General Motors Building. The purchase firmly establishes Simon DeBartolo as the largest owner of retail properties in the U.S., giving it a total of 222 retail sites...